Video games are bad: Heres why

Please let us not argue about "its the parents". These days parents are children, kids themselves. So lets face the fact that games will get into the
hands of kids, teens, and your drunk uncle bill.

Video games or virtual reality are inherently bad and extremely detrimental to society. I will share some of my feelings and gatherings, and hopefully
you can do the same. There are so many games out there, with so much content, not through years of gaming have I even scratched the surface. I'll
show you what I've gathered as well as share some of my own experiences and takes on things.

Just a quick personal experience I had while at a local fun arcade. There was a pretty cool flight simulation game, with a man of eastern descent,
wearing a remember 9/11 shirt. This man played this game for HOURS. Sorry if that was a tasteless way to begin, but its something I'll never forget.
Could I blame the guy? Video games are ultimately simulators. Haven't you ever thought, what would this be like? I have.

Anyone can create, anyone can play
Anyone can create a game, and anyone can play a game. A group of psychopaths could create a game, and maybe they have, and guess what: it gets put
out for all the world to play.

Take quick glimpse of Silent Hill.

You just had a glimpse. Now imagine not just a glimpse, but a fantasy land full of bodies, disembowels, crucifixions, and pools of blood on top of the
creepiest music you've ever heard of. Could you imagine some sorts of psychological affects on a child/teen? I'm not going to find every gory and
violent picture, you get it.

Unmatched, Detached, Doomed
Many game's offer characters we love, characters we hate, ten fold over movies and the like. In a video game, one is the killer, one is the elf, that
character becomes a part of you, and you a part of it. When was the last time you found your palms and feet sweating because of a picture, or a
movie? I could turn some games right now and literally be immersed, physically and mentally. My senses are heightened, and I tell you
adrenalines-a-flowin. Palms and feet sweaty and all. I am detached, and immersed in that world. Nothing in this world matters. That's a problem folks.
For someone to tell me this hasn't been shaping our psyche would be silly. There could be hundreds or thousands of murderers who was given a fantasy,
and that fantasy wasn't good enough anymore. So they act out, violently, sadistically.

BILL: But haven’t little boys been playing soldiers and going “boom” ever since the first toys were carved from wood?
DR. DAVE: You, and unfortunately parents, are clueless about what creates the video game addiction. What separates Doom from other video games and
toys is one big point. They are deliberately programmed to make the player a “first person shooter”

Dr. Dave there is talking about the columbine shootings, both the kids played Doom and Grand Theft Auto.

But it was the nature of that violence that turned heads. Set in the "near future," the shooter puts the player in firefights in Afghanistan and, at
least once, lets them join forces with terrorists. One scene puts the player in the position of deciding whether to join in as an ally guns down
innocent civilians in an airport.

Oh wonderful, it's the most advanced shooter in existence, and I can plant bombs and join the terrorirsts. These days, even the military train with
games.

Depending on your preferences, you can have sex with someone who is older or younger than you — perhaps much older or younger. In fact, if your
virtual character is an adult, you can have sex with a virtual character who is a child. If you did that in the real world, most of us would agree
that you did something seriously wrong. But is it seriously wrong to have virtual sex with a virtual child?

Yay, thanks second life!

Need I even mention BioShock, where you hunt little girls which by the way are protected by "bigdaddys"
How about www.littlelacysurprisepageant.com, its website in GTA IV, you know; the internet in GTA.

Reality Sucks
I contest! When do these gross fantasies on games cross over into real life? More often than we're aware of I'd assume. Weather its imagining this
game is your life, or this game truly being your life, or part of your very fiber, The Virtual world is outdoes that of our cognitive reality.
Provides us with gross simulations, and as future technologies come about I'd assume video games will have nothing to do with "video" at all, and just
be complete mind simulation like in Minority Report.. Ah.. and you thought that the avatar blues was bad... Instead of furthering our own race, we
must level our virtual characters instead, get fat and drink mountain dew. And

I'm going to end with this quote its speaking of Super Columbine Massacre RPG and a victims response to playing it.

Richard Castaldo, 24, one of the students injured that day, had a different take. He is paralyzed from the waist down after being shot. He's a
gamer — he wants to be a sound engineer for games — and he's played the Columbine game. There are some parts that were tough for him, he
said, but he thought the game has a unique take on that day: "It's weird for me to say this, I guess, but there's something about it that I
appreciated, seeing the game from the killers' perspective."

There you have it, hes a gamer! He freaking appreciated seeing it from the killers perspective! Need I say more?
Can anyone really argue that video games/virtual-reality is in anyway GOOD for us, or not terrible for our society? I just want to be like Mario..
fool with pipes and chase mushrooms all day.

I'll take it you're either highly religious or one ignorant troll.
The smallest wee-est barely countable percent of gamers actually take it as real life and they deserve to be locked up for life LOL
I'm a total Christian, would never harm a soul, love mankind, have hope and peace that all will work out at some point in my great grandkids future
with world peace, etc ;

But I love love love love LOVE me some Silent Hill, Call of Duty, Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas and Left for Dead 2 and so on. I'm 38 years old.
Female. My son is almost 17 and he's been a gamer for ages now. He and his friends surely know the difference between games, movies and real life.
Just because one takes on a role for a game doesn't mean that's how they are in reality.

Get out some. Realize that the majority don't see games as real life. Please.

Originally posted by sarra1833
I'm a total Christian, would never harm a soul, love mankind, have hope and peace that all will work out at some point in my great grandkids future
with world peace, etc ;

But I love love love love LOVE me some Silent Hill, Call of Duty, Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas and Left for Dead 2 and so on.

I'm in the same boat. Christian, 30 years old, married with two girls, and still (after falling in love with the Apple II at age 5) an avid gamer.
I'm currently playing The Witcher 2, love Lord of the Rings Online, and have the Fallout collection (from Fallout 1-New Vegas) on my bookshelf, and on
my hard drive... and love 'em all.

I agree wholeheartedly... there's a distinction between life and gaming. I may read a book that is a crime thriller; that doesn't mean I'm going to
go out and commit that same crime, even if it's written in first person, I'm not going to be deluded into thinking that I'm actually THAT PERSON.
Games are no different. Guaranteed, if I'm hanging out at Baldur's Gate, or kicking back with some Dragon Age, I'm likely to pick every pocket I can
get my hands on. That doesn't mean I'm going to head out on the weekend and start shoplifting or hitting up strangers for pocket change.

The distinction between reality and gaming is a pretty solid one. If you're having trouble finding that distinction, then I'd suggest you find
yourself a good psychologist. As for me, I'll play my games on weekends and weeknights, and go back to my real job (director of a child care centre)
during the day...

Not every person can be such the perfect christian as you are, and many different people are affected in many different ways by these games,
especially growing up. If you can't see that, you are asleep. Blind and happy about it.

Everyone is intitled to their thoughts and posts. I used to be a gamer. I can tell you stories how it turned my life into a miserable nightmare.
And suprise! It has nothing to do with religion. If you spend your life indoors, wasting away rather than spending it doing something constructive,
that wont have you ending up with heartfailure after taking out the trash on a hot day... You get the picture.

Have any clue whatsoever how many families MMOs destroyed? Marriages? Lives? I can find you article after article of people who got into gaming so
much that...

- Boy forcably removed from cyber cafe because he would not go home, would not bathe and would not leave..after days!
- Young parents arrested because newborn neglected after young parents wouldnt pull away from an MMO to tend to the child... (edited) btw... the
child died.

and so bloody many horror stories. I have my own personal 12 year MMO horror experiance.

People loose when they dedicate themselves to playing games.

So I would say such to many rabid gamers... Grow up.. Get Up.. Loose some damn weight.. Get a life!!! When the virtual game quarter runs out and
you're on your way to the next big MMO, lets hope you didnt waste 30 years of your life, trying to figure out what the hell happened...

OP if you were not new, I would give you a star for this. So... A flag for ya instead. Some people just dont realise how much damage this does to
their lives. It's no diffrent than being a complete drug addict or acoholic.

Burn all the books with violence in them!!!!
Don't let them read news papers or watch the news on TV.
Hell, don't let them watch TV at all, just in case, better to be safe than sorry, there might be a wildlife documentary on and we know that nature's
violent.
I know, why don't we just isolate them with just a bible untill their old enough to experience the shock of what the the world is really like.

Oh, hang on, forget the bible idea, it's violent too.
Phew, that was a close one.

As introductions go this is rather poor, in fact I have read exact same paragraphs like this before so I think you are pasting from elsewhere. Video
games dont make murderers, nature and their environment does if someone has it in them then anything would set them off. Ps if you are a troll you
have picked the wrong site

Video games are bad. Music is bad. TV is bad. Books are bad. Lets all sew our eyes shut, and plug our ears.

People play games because its an experience. Atmospheric games, survival horror games give us chills and frighten us because we're not part of THAT
world. It's make believe. People play Call of Duty not because they want to shoot people IRL, but because they get to go online with their buddies,
same as Halo, same as Monster Hunter.

God forbid I should finish reading Song of Ice and Fire series, and go take on the Queen for her throne...

I believe that if you spend enough time playing video games to actually be influenced by them, you are more likely to just play more video games. So
instead of acting on an idea you got from playing a video game, you'll just sit on the couch and society will be safe from you.

What I have pasted, I have quoted; otherwise please find where MY words have been pasted from anywhere, please. On topic, those videos, of course
nothings wrong! Thats what little girls are going to be playing! A virtual trip! You must be a hella delusional group to think NO video game has
affected ANYONE in a negative manner. Isn't this site's motto deny ignorance? You all aren't even countering any of my points.

For reality to be 'simulated' aka Silent Hill or another version of survival horror, then there is currently one BIG ingredient
missing........................Smell, odour.

Working in Hospitals I have found myself in MORE INTENSE simulations than a cheap video game and I can say that the 'Smell' somtimes is the biggest
sense you have........combined with all other senses....

Video games are a release and IMHO a way for me to 'relax' occasionally in a make believe scenario......

If Video games are bad as you say OP then maybe we should also include many Feature / Hollywood Films in there too....

There's only one reason not to play video games, and Brad Pitt said it in "12 Monkeys"
"Playing a game is the same as taking a tranquilizer."
Everything the OP said is garbage, obviously a troll, it became undeniable when he said the stuff about Second Life.
If you're real, I suppose you agree with banning books that have vulgar and violent topics as well(Don't bother replying, I'm not coming back.)

Originally posted by Hiasyouwant
What I have pasted, I have quoted; otherwise please find where MY words have been pasted from anywhere, please. On topic, those videos, of course
nothings wrong! Thats what little girls are going to be playing! A virtual trip! You must be a hella delusional group to think NO video game has
affected ANYONE in a negative manner. Isn't this site's motto deny ignorance? You all aren't even countering any of my points.

Video games more than likely do affect people in many ways, negative and positive.
But no more so than literature, theater, cinema and even the natural world.
In my opinion, video games are just an extention of cinema, a movie where you actually get to be the hero instead of just being a voyeur to the
hero's plight.

Video games give people other senses. For loners, perhaps a sense of being. For others.. worse things than we can imagine. What will you make of it
when you make a stabbing motion on the kinect for the xbox? We've already got the shooting havent we? Hey, go check out 50 Cent: Bulletproof or San
Andreas, tell me it doesn't affect black children who play it, I dare you.

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